Packaging material



June 17, 1969 o. TAPIOVAARA PACKING MATERIAL Filed Sept. 7, 1966 Fig.6A

C w m T F WTIII my fi 5 Ulvl'll Illlla H 1!! \1 liillkwe 2. :WT TN. rllllmm 1 w United States Patent US. Cl. 229-37 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention comprises a packaging material comprising a continuous band of flexible material, preferably plastic, with stiffening elements longitudinally on one side of the band. The edges of the band are sealed together to form a tube which is then twisted off to form separate packages.

This invention deals with packaging material and packages manufactured from it comprising wall, top and bottom elements.

The purpose of the invention is to provide inexpensive packaging material for the manufacture of packages which can be put together and filled at the same time by means of a simple machine.

The packaging material according to the invention is chiefly characterized by the fact that it consists of a continuous band of flexible material, preferably plastic, with stiffening elements longitudinally on one side of the band at spaced intervals from each other, whereby packages are manufactured by seaming together the edges of the packaging material to form a tube, by restricting the flexible tubular hand between the stiffening elements, e.g. by twisting or binding, and by cutting off the resulting package units from the continuous band.

The advantage of the packaging material according to the invention is, primarily, that it can be made into airtight and liquid-tight packages to be filled in a continuous series using a simple machine. After opening the package, the top portion will form a spout for pouring out the contents. Furthermore, the packages according to the invention can be stacked on top of each other in order to occupy a small space.

The invention is described further below with reference to the enclosed drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of the manufacture and filling of packages made from the packaging material according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view on a larger scale of a completed package which has been opened;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the upper end of the closed package, which is separated from the lower end of the package presented in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a package according to another mode of application;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of a part of the package in FIG. 4 cut out in a manner described later; and

FIGS. 6A, 6B,, 6C and 6D is a plan of a portion of a band of packaging material of this invention, illustrating particularly variations in the design of stiffening elements according to different applications of the invention.

According to FIG. 1 and 6A, the packaging material 1 consists of stiffening elements 3, e.g. cardboard sheets, attached longitudinally to one side of a flexible plastic band 2 at spaced intervals from each other and covering about the entire width of the band. Each stiffening element 3 is provided with wall panels 5, six in number in the illustrated embodiment to provide a six-sided package, as well as an edge strip 6. The panels 5 are separated by longi- Patented June 17, 1969 tudinal folding lines 4 made, for instance, by grooving or scoring. According to FIGURES l-6A, there are transverse folding lines 7 near the ends of the stiffening elements 3 so as to form bottom panels 8 and top panels 9 between the folding lines 7 and 4, which panels in turn, in order to form the bottom and top respectively, are provided with diagonal folding lines 10 running from the points of intersection between the folding lines 4 and 7 to the center of the edge line of the bottom panels 8 or top panels 9. FIGURES 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D present different approaches to package tops and bottoms. According to FIG. 6D, the top and bottom panels are entirely missing so that both ends of the resulting package would be closed entirely by the plastic membrane 2. According to FIG. 63, only the top panels are missing so that only the top end of the resulting package would be closed by the plastic membrane 2. The bottom panels 8 of the stiffening elements 3 in the packaging material according to FIG. 6C comprise triangular separate parts extending from the wall panels 5. In general, it is more advan-- tageous if the stiffening elements 3 attached in succession to the plastic band of the packaging material are identical, i.e. if the wall, top and bottom panels of succeeding elements have the same shape respectively. However, FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of this invention in which succeeding stiffening elements are different.

In the manufacture of the packages according to FIG. 1, the above described continuous packaging material 1 is brought from folded storage 11 around a filling tube 12 of a packaging machine in such a way that the stiffening elements 3 locate relative to the filling tube 12 on the outer side of the plastic band 2. At the same time a seaming device 13 of the packaging machine unites the sides of the packaging material by means of the edge strip 6 of the stiffening element, so that a tubular mantle 14 is formed around the filling tube 12. Seaming of the sides of the packaging material at point 13 can be accomplished by welding, gluing or by other means, and instead of bringing the packaging material around the filling tube from a folded storage 11, this can be done from a storage roll as well. The filler material to be packed is introduced into the packaging by using devices not shown here, by means of which devices the flow of material entering the packaging can be interrupted when desired.

From the tubular mantle 14 mentioned, the packages are formed by restricting the mantle between two successive stiffening element .3, for instance, by turning or twisting the lower package 15 in relation to the upper package, whereby the top of the lower package is formed from the top panels 9, and above this the bottom of the next package to be formed is formed from the bottom panels 8. As the filler material in the lower package 15 is isolated by the turning or twisting described above, there is formed midway between the top of the lower package 15 and the bottom of the next package to be formed a plastic threadlike so-called navel string 16, which is cut off by some suitable device 17, preferably a heat sealing device, whereby the upper end of the filled package 15 and the bottom of the next package to be formed are simultaneously closed to form air-tight and liquid-tight seals. The fused approximately ball-shaped plastic body remaining from the fusion of navel string 16 may join the oppositely directed ridges 18 together. Alternatively, enough unfused folded plastic membrane with the symbol 2 in FIG. 2 may be left between the fused navel string 16 and the top of the package 15 to spread out over the upper part of the package 15 when it is opened, as indicated in the figure. When the packaging material has stiffening elements 3 as shown in FIG. 6A, as the package 15 is turned or twisted, ridges 18 are formed at bottom and top along corresponding folding lines 4 of the packaging material. The ridges 18 can be pushed inside of the package as shown in the lower part of FIGS. 2 and 4, so that the top and bottom of the package are primarily delineated by the extreme edges of the wall panels 5 of the package in the plane defined by the folding lines 7, whereby the packages are able to stand steady in upright position and can be stacked on top of one another. The plastic membrane attached to the triangular panels between the ridge edges or the ridges 18 and the lower folding edges 4e formed by the diagonal folding lines 10 of the packing material may be welded together at some of the opposing side surfaces if desired in order to increase stability in this manner.

In FIG. 2 the top or cover of the package is opened in such a way that the top sections turn out and form a spout 19 for discharging the contents of the package. When the part 16 formed from the molten navel string is pulled up wards, the edges 18 and 4e at the upper part of FIG. 2 are turned above the edge 7. The plastic membrane between the part 16 and the spout 19 is torn open leaving only a narrow strip 21 on the edges of the two triangular panels to the extreme left, or the plastic membrane is cut open along these very same edges. The edge 4e to the extreme left is turned outwards. The point of the angle formed by the triangular top panels situated on both sides of the last-mentioned edge 4e is thus turned away from the package according to FIG. 2, and is turned inside the package when this is closed. The above triangular panels form a groove or spout in the open package for easy pouring from the package.

According to FIG. 4 the package is made of the packaging material illustrated in FIG. 6B, with the bottom of the siffening element 3 similar to that presented above, but with the top panels missing. In this case the plastic membrane is turned, twisted or folded once over the upper edge of the wall panels 5 before closing the package. A cover 23 with a pulling string 22 can be placed over the sealed membrane as shown in the drawing. The cover 23, which can be detached by pulling the string 22, protects the upper rim of the package and keeps it clean during the processes of handling before the package is opened so that beverages can be consumed directly from the package after opening.

correspondingly, the top and bottom panels at the upper and lower ends of the stiffening elements 3 of the packaging material according to FIG. 6D are missing so that removable covers can be applied to both the tops and bottoms of packages manufactured from such packaging material.

In FIG. 4, a portion of the package is imagined to be cut out from the package along two planes, one in the direction of the longitudinal axis and the edge 4 of the package cutting the wall panels of the package along the lines HG and IE, the other plane running perpendicular to the first plane cutting the wall panels along the broken line EFG. FIG. 5 presents on a somewhat larger scale the above cut-out portion in a position where the line EFG is down and the cut portion is viewed in the direction of the interior surfaces of the package, i.e. diagonally to the inner surface of the wall panels and perpendicularly to the folding line 4, between the wall panels 5. The cutting line of the bottom is seen now as a W-shaped broken line IKLMH, while the diagonal folding lines of the bottom form a broken line KNM. The interior sides of the panels located on both sides of the ridge 18, or the ridge LN, are in this case not welded together in the manner mentioned earlier.

The packages according to the invention can be used for packaging a large variety of materials, such as liquids, powders, food-stuffs and the like. They can be made into large sizes as well, and filling does not necessarily have to be mechanical.

The invention is not restricted to the illustrated embodiments, but can be varied considerably with respect to details within the scope of the invention. Thus, for example, the stilfening elements of the packaging material can consist of paper, plastic, cloth, net, metal or other stiff materials instead of cardboard. It is also possible that the stiffening elements of the packaging material can be made in one piece and of the same material, i.e. plastic, as the plastic band. If the packages do not have to be absolutely air and liquid tight, other flexible materials may be used in place of flexible plastic. Also, the cross-sectional shape of the package can be varied within large limits. For example, it can be round, oblong, or a polygon of any number of corners, and of any shape.

We claim:

1. A packaging material comprising a continuous band of flexible material with stiffening elements longitudinally on one side of the band at spaced intervals from each other, said band being adaptable to assume a generally tubular shape and be seamed together in such shape, said stiffening elements comprising at least a number of wall panels and being at such intervals that when said band is seamed in a generally tubular shape the resulting tubular shaped band can be restricted and sealed between the stiffening elements to form end portions such that the resulting packages are stackable end to end, wherein the wall panels of the stiffening elements are delineated by longitudinal folding lines relative to the band in order to accomplish a package of polygonal shape.

2. A packaging material in accordance with claim 1 wherein the flexible material is a plastic.

3. A packaging material in accordance with claim 1 wherein at least one end of at least one wall panel of each stilfening element is provided with a foldable end panel.

4. A packaging material in accordance with claim 1 wherein the stiffening elements are essentially rigid and only comprise wall sections whereby the bottom and the gOVCl of the finished package consist entirely of the flexible and.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,257,823 10/1941 Stokes.

1,956,159 4/ 1934 Reilly et al 229-14 3,109,574 11/1963 Lange 229-37 3,253,767 5/1966 Pellaton 229-37 DONALD F. NORTON, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

